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Hermes’ Portal
Issue #15
Hermes’ Portal
Issue n° 15
October 2005
Treasures of the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
by Christopher Gribbon
A Gazetteer of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles . . . . . . . . . . .5
by Sheila Thomas and John Post
by Ty Larson
by Sheila Thomas
by Andrew Gronosky
Hermes’ portal
Publisher: Hermes’ Portal
Contributors: Christopher Gribbon, Andrew Gronosky, Tyler Larson, John Post, Sheila Thomas.
Illustrations: Scott Beattie (p. 5, 15, 17, 32, 35), Radja Sauperamaniane (back), Angela Taylor (p. 4, 8, 11, 16, 18, 55, 57, 60, 62, 64, 67),
Alexander White (cover, border & p. 22, 24) & Lacroix P., Sciences & Lettres au Moyen-Age … (Firmin-Didot, Paris, 1877).
Editorial and proofreading help: Sheila Thomas, layout: Eric Kouris
Thanks: All the people who submitted ideas, texts, illustrations or helped in the production of this issue.
Hermes’ Portal is an independent publication dedicated to Ars Magica players. Hermes’ Portal is available through email only.
Hermes’ Portal is not affiliated with Atlas Games or White Wolf Gaming Studio. References to trademarks of those companies are not
intended to infringe upon the rights of those parties. Ars Magica was created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rhein Hagen.
Hermes’ Portal # 15, Copyright ©2005, Hermes’ Portal. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work is allowed for personal use only.
Contacting Hermes’ Portal
Email: Hermes.Portal@wanadoo.fr
Web site: www.hermesportal.fr.st
Who’s who
John Post
John has been roleplaying for over 20 years and
has been playing Ars Magica since the second edi-
tion. During that time, he received a degree in Polit-
ical Science, served as an intelligence analyst with the
US Army, studied International Relations and Middle
Eastern Studies in graduate school(s), and, most
recently, moved to San Francisco to become an attor-
ney. John has several Ars Magica writing projects in
the works and is currently looking for a troupe to
join.
and I turned one of them, discussing the area of an
equilateral triangle, into a nice homework for one of
my classes. I gave the students Gerbert’s text, the
questions to work on, a three page presentation
about the author by Pierre Larousse (French ency-
clopedist of the 19th century), and also an extract
from Thorndike’s History of Magic and Experimental
Science (they are supposed to be better than average
students so a page in English won’t kill them), and
Walter Map’s legend about Gerbert taken from the
De Nugis Curialium. I’m not sure which text they will
prefer, but I shall not be too surprised if in the end I
have more to read on the story of Gerbert and
Meridiana than on Pythagoras’s theorem and the
approximate value of the square root of three used
by Gerbert. If they don’t become scientists, maybe
they’ll be good historians, or at least decent roleplay-
ers.
Publisher’s corner
Generally, I try not to mix roleplaying games and
reality, but sometimes roleplaying games take a
roundabout way and come knocking at the back
door.
Some time ago, I worked on ideas which
appeared in the supplement Living Lore. One of
them, the legend of Gerbert of Aurillac, resulted
from my dislike of the way it was presented in the
Tribunal of Rome supplement. Since the release of Liv-
ing Lore, I found a copy of Gerbert’s letters (it’s been
out-of-print for a few years). Of course, there is no
reference to magic in them (but they are definitely
better than Judith Tarr’s novel, Ars Magica). The sec-
ond volume also included Gerbert’s scientific letters,
This new issue of Hermes’ Portal completes and
finishes the series on the Isle of Man first presented
in the previous issue. I hope you’ll enjoy it and find
this place worth a try in your saga.
Another series coming to an end in this issue is
the Omnibus Grimoire. It has been running for 10
issues and you now have more than a hundred origi-
nal spells to make a difference in difficult situations.
While two series end, another begins. This issue
presents original vis sources you can easily include in
your saga and you’re invited to submit your own
sources. We’ll try to publish them in upcoming
issues.
3
The Out Isles
The Out Isles of the Kingdom of Man and the
Isles in 1220 consist of the Sudrey island groups of
Lewis and Skye, which jointly provide 8 hersar for
the Tynwald (5 from Lewis and 3 from Skye). His-
torically, the Island groups of Islay and Mull, and the
Kintyre peninsula, also belonged to this group, but
since the time of Somerled, those lands have become
the property of Scotland (at least theoretically), and
are ruled by Somerled’s sons and grandsons.
Historically, the Hebrides were first settled by the
Fomhori and the Tuatha de Danaan, much as Ireland
was. The first humans here were the enigmatic Broch
Builders, and they held out against the Picts here
longer than on the mainland, but they still vanished
long ago — leaving only their mysterious Broch-tow-
ers as evidence of their existence. These towers of
unknown function are dry-stone constructions, often
rather large, with double walls, galleries, and large
central chambers, though the ceilings in the galleries
tend to be very low (5 ft or less). Subsequently, the
Cruithni and Irish Celts inhabited the islands, though
the centuries of invasion by the Vikings have pro-
duced a strongly mixed population.
Currently, King Alexander II is mounting a cam-
paign to subdue the nearby mainland of Argyll, and
this conflict is spilling over into some of the isles.
The war will not reach the Skye and Lewis groups —
but all the lords of the isles are in a state of high
readiness for war, just in case.
Wood is very scarce on the isles — indeed, all
driftwood is legally the property of the hersir of the
parish, and fines are levied for any who keep it for
themselves. Though the hersir will sell this wood to
the peasants for use in house and shipbuilding, it is
too expensive to burn, and peat is therefore the fuel
used in hearths. Sods of peat are cut (a dirty and
back-breaking labor) and left to dry in the sun over
summer, and stockpiles kept for winter.
Popular sporting pastimes include inter-village
games of quoits and shinty (a hockey-like game,
known locally as camanachd, after the caman shinty-
sticks), which are played by men, or children of both
sexes (rules for playing shinty are provided in Lion of
the North, page 85). Over winter, it is common to
have a céilidh (loosely “party”) in a different house of
the community every night — where the locals gath-
er to socialize and swap stories.
Clothing is made from flax, or from home-spun
wool from the hardy Hebridean sheep; wealthier
families might own some clothing of linen, or even
of silk. Men wear shirts and trews, with over-kilts
worn in cold weather, while the women wear long-
sleeved blouses and long skirts. For women, a snood
(head-band) is the symbol of maidenhood, and a
woman will change her headgear to a mutch (a kind
of plain bonnet) the day after marriage.
Senchus fer n’Alban (“Account Of The Men
Of Scotland”)
This book was originally written in the late 600s
by the Scottish Chiefs of the Kingdom of Dál Ria-
ta (Dalriada) as a census of the houses of Dál Ria-
ta, both Scottish and Pictish, with a view to the
rights of their overlord to raise taxes and mili-
tary/naval levies from them. The three noble lines
of Siol Lorne, Siol Angus, and Siol Gillebride (or
Gabran) are mentioned in this book — and descen-
dants of these families still comprise much of the
nobility of the western isles and Scotland.
The original text was in Goidaelic, but Latin
translations are available.
The book counts as a Tractatus in Area Lore
(Scotland), on Dalriada, with a Quality of 6.
The population of the isles subsists mostly by sea
fishing — along with harvesting kelp and seagull
eggs, supplemented by some sheep and cattle farm-
ing. Hebridean sheep are similar in appearance to
Manx Loaghtan sheep, with dark wool and four
horns, but they are smaller, and never possess six
horns, as the Loaghtan sometimes do. Almost every-
one on the isles also grows kale, turnips, and corca-
dubh and eòrna (black oats and barley, for baking
bannocks and oat-cakes), and salmon are caught in
the rivers by rods and fish-traps. There is also a
diminutive breed of pony kept on the isles, and
found nowhere else.
5
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zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl audipoznan.keep.pl
Hermes’ Portal
Issue #15
Hermes’ Portal
Issue n° 15
October 2005
Treasures of the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
by Christopher Gribbon
A Gazetteer of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles . . . . . . . . . . .5
by Sheila Thomas and John Post
by Ty Larson
by Sheila Thomas
by Andrew Gronosky
Hermes’ portal
Publisher: Hermes’ Portal
Contributors: Christopher Gribbon, Andrew Gronosky, Tyler Larson, John Post, Sheila Thomas.
Illustrations: Scott Beattie (p. 5, 15, 17, 32, 35), Radja Sauperamaniane (back), Angela Taylor (p. 4, 8, 11, 16, 18, 55, 57, 60, 62, 64, 67),
Alexander White (cover, border & p. 22, 24) & Lacroix P., Sciences & Lettres au Moyen-Age … (Firmin-Didot, Paris, 1877).
Editorial and proofreading help: Sheila Thomas, layout: Eric Kouris
Thanks: All the people who submitted ideas, texts, illustrations or helped in the production of this issue.
Hermes’ Portal is an independent publication dedicated to Ars Magica players. Hermes’ Portal is available through email only.
Hermes’ Portal is not affiliated with Atlas Games or White Wolf Gaming Studio. References to trademarks of those companies are not
intended to infringe upon the rights of those parties. Ars Magica was created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rhein Hagen.
Hermes’ Portal # 15, Copyright ©2005, Hermes’ Portal. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work is allowed for personal use only.
Contacting Hermes’ Portal
Email: Hermes.Portal@wanadoo.fr
Web site: www.hermesportal.fr.st
Who’s who
John Post
John has been roleplaying for over 20 years and
has been playing Ars Magica since the second edi-
tion. During that time, he received a degree in Polit-
ical Science, served as an intelligence analyst with the
US Army, studied International Relations and Middle
Eastern Studies in graduate school(s), and, most
recently, moved to San Francisco to become an attor-
ney. John has several Ars Magica writing projects in
the works and is currently looking for a troupe to
join.
and I turned one of them, discussing the area of an
equilateral triangle, into a nice homework for one of
my classes. I gave the students Gerbert’s text, the
questions to work on, a three page presentation
about the author by Pierre Larousse (French ency-
clopedist of the 19th century), and also an extract
from Thorndike’s History of Magic and Experimental
Science (they are supposed to be better than average
students so a page in English won’t kill them), and
Walter Map’s legend about Gerbert taken from the
De Nugis Curialium. I’m not sure which text they will
prefer, but I shall not be too surprised if in the end I
have more to read on the story of Gerbert and
Meridiana than on Pythagoras’s theorem and the
approximate value of the square root of three used
by Gerbert. If they don’t become scientists, maybe
they’ll be good historians, or at least decent roleplay-
ers.
Publisher’s corner
Generally, I try not to mix roleplaying games and
reality, but sometimes roleplaying games take a
roundabout way and come knocking at the back
door.
Some time ago, I worked on ideas which
appeared in the supplement Living Lore. One of
them, the legend of Gerbert of Aurillac, resulted
from my dislike of the way it was presented in the
Tribunal of Rome supplement. Since the release of Liv-
ing Lore, I found a copy of Gerbert’s letters (it’s been
out-of-print for a few years). Of course, there is no
reference to magic in them (but they are definitely
better than Judith Tarr’s novel, Ars Magica). The sec-
ond volume also included Gerbert’s scientific letters,
This new issue of Hermes’ Portal completes and
finishes the series on the Isle of Man first presented
in the previous issue. I hope you’ll enjoy it and find
this place worth a try in your saga.
Another series coming to an end in this issue is
the Omnibus Grimoire. It has been running for 10
issues and you now have more than a hundred origi-
nal spells to make a difference in difficult situations.
While two series end, another begins. This issue
presents original vis sources you can easily include in
your saga and you’re invited to submit your own
sources. We’ll try to publish them in upcoming
issues.
3
The Out Isles
The Out Isles of the Kingdom of Man and the
Isles in 1220 consist of the Sudrey island groups of
Lewis and Skye, which jointly provide 8 hersar for
the Tynwald (5 from Lewis and 3 from Skye). His-
torically, the Island groups of Islay and Mull, and the
Kintyre peninsula, also belonged to this group, but
since the time of Somerled, those lands have become
the property of Scotland (at least theoretically), and
are ruled by Somerled’s sons and grandsons.
Historically, the Hebrides were first settled by the
Fomhori and the Tuatha de Danaan, much as Ireland
was. The first humans here were the enigmatic Broch
Builders, and they held out against the Picts here
longer than on the mainland, but they still vanished
long ago — leaving only their mysterious Broch-tow-
ers as evidence of their existence. These towers of
unknown function are dry-stone constructions, often
rather large, with double walls, galleries, and large
central chambers, though the ceilings in the galleries
tend to be very low (5 ft or less). Subsequently, the
Cruithni and Irish Celts inhabited the islands, though
the centuries of invasion by the Vikings have pro-
duced a strongly mixed population.
Currently, King Alexander II is mounting a cam-
paign to subdue the nearby mainland of Argyll, and
this conflict is spilling over into some of the isles.
The war will not reach the Skye and Lewis groups —
but all the lords of the isles are in a state of high
readiness for war, just in case.
Wood is very scarce on the isles — indeed, all
driftwood is legally the property of the hersir of the
parish, and fines are levied for any who keep it for
themselves. Though the hersir will sell this wood to
the peasants for use in house and shipbuilding, it is
too expensive to burn, and peat is therefore the fuel
used in hearths. Sods of peat are cut (a dirty and
back-breaking labor) and left to dry in the sun over
summer, and stockpiles kept for winter.
Popular sporting pastimes include inter-village
games of quoits and shinty (a hockey-like game,
known locally as camanachd, after the caman shinty-
sticks), which are played by men, or children of both
sexes (rules for playing shinty are provided in Lion of
the North, page 85). Over winter, it is common to
have a céilidh (loosely “party”) in a different house of
the community every night — where the locals gath-
er to socialize and swap stories.
Clothing is made from flax, or from home-spun
wool from the hardy Hebridean sheep; wealthier
families might own some clothing of linen, or even
of silk. Men wear shirts and trews, with over-kilts
worn in cold weather, while the women wear long-
sleeved blouses and long skirts. For women, a snood
(head-band) is the symbol of maidenhood, and a
woman will change her headgear to a mutch (a kind
of plain bonnet) the day after marriage.
Senchus fer n’Alban (“Account Of The Men
Of Scotland”)
This book was originally written in the late 600s
by the Scottish Chiefs of the Kingdom of Dál Ria-
ta (Dalriada) as a census of the houses of Dál Ria-
ta, both Scottish and Pictish, with a view to the
rights of their overlord to raise taxes and mili-
tary/naval levies from them. The three noble lines
of Siol Lorne, Siol Angus, and Siol Gillebride (or
Gabran) are mentioned in this book — and descen-
dants of these families still comprise much of the
nobility of the western isles and Scotland.
The original text was in Goidaelic, but Latin
translations are available.
The book counts as a Tractatus in Area Lore
(Scotland), on Dalriada, with a Quality of 6.
The population of the isles subsists mostly by sea
fishing — along with harvesting kelp and seagull
eggs, supplemented by some sheep and cattle farm-
ing. Hebridean sheep are similar in appearance to
Manx Loaghtan sheep, with dark wool and four
horns, but they are smaller, and never possess six
horns, as the Loaghtan sometimes do. Almost every-
one on the isles also grows kale, turnips, and corca-
dubh and eòrna (black oats and barley, for baking
bannocks and oat-cakes), and salmon are caught in
the rivers by rods and fish-traps. There is also a
diminutive breed of pony kept on the isles, and
found nowhere else.
5
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]